Raleigh hosts Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh will be hosting an eight-part lecture series to complement The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition.

Thursday, July 17 at 7 p.m. Israeli Professor Rachel Elior will present the first lecture of the series, "Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls and Why Were They Written?" in the Museum's WRAL Digital Theater.

Dr. Elior is the John and Golda Cohen Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Jewish Mystical Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Thursday, Elior will address the variety of topics on which the Scrolls were written, their authors and the circumstances in which they were written.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are considered to be among the greatest archaeological treasures ever discovered.

Some of the scrolls are over 2,000 years old and open us to a period that set the ground of western traditions, beliefs and practices throughout the past two millennia.

Among the Scrolls are 207 biblical manuscripts that represent nearly every book in the Hebrew Bible (Christian Old Testament) and that predate any foreknown copies by more than 1,000 years.

The exhibition begins with the discovery of the Scrolls in 1947 by a Bedouin Shepherd and continues to follow their known history to the present day.

"This exhibit is unique to its venue," said Jonathan Pishney, communications director at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. "We've been trying to get the scrolls for two years and have finally received them from the Israel antiquities authority. We've built the exhibit in-house and it is entirely different from any other sea scrolls exhibit."

Guests are able to see a map of the region that encompasses the Dead Sea, Qumran and the caves where the Scrolls were discovered.

With other artifacts found, such as pottery, coins and fabrics, guests can learn more about the people of Qumran and their relationship to The Dead Sea Scrolls.

"The Dead Sea Scrolls are central to so much information and speculation that one exhibit couldn't possibly cover everything," said Angela Baker-James, executive director of friends of the museum. "To expand on some of the cultural and scientific themes of the exhibit, we're pleased to offer this Distinguished Lecture Series."

Along with Elior, there will be local, national and international scholars speaking throughout the duration of the series on topics varying from the conservation of the scrolls to the roles women had at Qumran.

The remaining lectures include; Israel at the Time of the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Historical Background of the Scrolls, August 27; The Conservation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, September 16; The Dead Sea Scrolls: Controversies and Theories of Early Judaism and Christianity, October 1; Women in the Dead Sea Scrolls and at Qumran on October 16; The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, October 30; The Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls, November 20; The Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Christianity, December 10.

Individual tickets for the lectures are $25 for the general public and $20 for Friends of the Museum; additional package discounts are available.

Exhibition hours are noon- 4 p.m. Sunday and Monday, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 10 a.m.- 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

The Museum exhibition runs through December 28.

For more information, including a full schedule for the lecture series, visit www.naturalsciences.org/scrolls/.

This writer can be contacted at news@theeastcarolinian.com